The Fractal Generator
Xx**XX*X* From orbit, this strangely named world looks deceptively like any other world capable of supporting life. However, a few things are off. For instance, cloud formations don't cluster together very much, but rather, streak out across the planet in strange, seemingly random patterns. Even the continents below appear to branch out, with strange rocky formations stretching out into the oceans. While there are cities on this world, there are no signs of life obvious enough to detect past the planet's atmosphere. The Hellbender is beat to hell. Sort of. Essential systems are running perfectly and while the vessel is entirely /spaceworthy/ it is not /comfortable/ in any way, shape or form. Chairs lack padding and are mostly bare piping or framework, there are no luxury systems of any kind and in many places the lighting has not yet even been repaired. And so, for the most part, the vessel is lit by the eerie glow of emergency lighting. Scorponok thus far has been pacing the deckplate of the Command Center as his mighty . . albiet unfinished vessel tears through space towards a planet he has just kind of sort of heard about. His claws are crossed in front of his chest as he makes the circle of the command center for yet /another/ time. He has been /very/ quiet as to the purpose of this mission. Only saying that the object is to retrieve an object from a strangely named planet. Xx**XX*X*. And lo and behold, it is on the viewscreen as the ship makes final approach. Activating his transformation sequence, Scorponok begins to twist and shift. When the movement stops he stands before you in robot mode. Shockwave, as the Science Officer, is the first to announce in his disinterested, droning voice, a long string of uninteresting but presumably important facts about the planet. No one pays attention to it until the last part. "...and zed point zed six percent xenon. Incidentally, insertion is complete and we are now orbiting the planet." Sharkticon is also on the Hellbender. As cannon fodder goes, the sharkball is servicable. He can fill in the role of the Red Shirt Away Team crew. He gnashes his teeth together momentarily, almost as if he was jolted slightly on approach. Perhaps someone has promised him pie? "Xenon yummy?" he asks. The brilliant glow of space warping and rippling at the periphery of the small bubble of normal space surrounding her is still relatively new to Fusillade. The bomber delights in the infinite variations of ionized hydrogen and helium that zip past her, the implacable ticking of a chronometer aligned to Cybertron time counting down to the Hellbender's arrival to the intriguingly titled planet. She remains a respectable distance to the right and behind Scorponok's ship to avoid fouling either of their subspace bubble fields. A faint shuddering and brilliant flash announces her arrival in near-space, and she patches into the ship's radio comm, listening in to what Shockwave has to say. With a faint puff of maneuvering rockets, she spins lazily in the space equivalent of a barrel roll. <> Moto Truck watches Scorponok pace. While he couldn't care less about the decor of the place, he does want a ship that's functional. "You sure this thing is going to hold together for the trip back?" he asks Scorponok, eying the bare piping and exposed conduits. Motormaster doesn't have an official job on the ship other than beating people up who might need beating up. He got his pilot's license by copying off Hook's written test. Motormaster transforms into robot mode. Skullcruncher is just kind of putzing around, occasionally stopping to tap his chin with a finger in an attempt to look like he's thinking about something really important. He grins as he catches the end of Shockwave's monotonous tirade about planets or something (whatever). "Heh, insertion.." Hi-Test has arrived. Dreadwind drops Hi-Test. Dreadwind is sat in one of the shadowy corners of the ship slumped over and ignored, he can't exactly see the point in wanting to get the ship all repaired and horribly lit up, it seems perfectly fine just the way it is a testement to pain suffering and the slow degradation into inoperability. Hi-Test on the other hand is looking over a nearby console it's not lit up at all but if he could figure out what it was for then he could probably get it working, given enough time. Backfire is standing behind Gnaw, resting his elbow on the Sharkticon's head. "Of course Xenon is delicious, the Decepticon EMPIRE demands it!" Don't have a clue what he's talking about, it's alright. Neither does he. "There is at least an acceptable chance that the Hellbender will be able to make the return trip to Cybertron," declares Shockwave. "Assuming no interference by Autobots or hostile aliens." Not that he cares, as he flies in space under his own power. Throttle has arrived. Darkwing drops Throttle. "The only juddering and creaking that I hear comes from your audio voxcaster." Scorponok replies to Motormaster in a voice that is laden with sarcasm and annoyance. "The vessel has been adequately repaired." He turns away from the viewscreen and uncrosses his claws slowly. "Director Shockwave." He says in a more plesant voice but one that is still devoid of any tones other than brisk, clipped business. "It would be ideal at this point to signal Executrix Fusillade and ask her to accompany the Hellbender in our atmospheric descent. Scorponok is also assuming that Shockwave is also flying the vessel from the science station, because Scorponok cannot fly a wheelbarrow. "Furthermore, direct scans towards the largest population center. Scan for Decepticon IFF signatures, or alloys found only in Cybertronian construction. The meek inhabitants of this planet do not have the technology to resist us, and yet somehow, a fully armed strike team is missing here. We will begin our task by searching for them -- and destroying all that get in our way!" Darkwing says, "This ship isn't so bad, I really don't see what all the fuss is about..." Darkwing says as he looks to Dreadwind in the corner. "There are much worse places to be..." Throttle chuckles softly. "I think Hi-Test would disagree with you." He says and walks over to his friend. "I think your best off just leaving it alone..."" Windshear emerges from the Shark's Rib. Windshear has arrived. Shockwave's eye flickers as he transmits a radio message, then begins to gingerly take the Hellbender down towards the surface. "Scanning..." "Make Xenon Pie," the Sharkball says, starting to wag his spikey tail back and forth. This may or may not trip up Backfire a little bit, or at least might result in the tail thwapping Backfire's ankles a couple times. If it's materials they're gathering, perhaps Gnaw's cavernous maw could be put to good storage use. Hi-Test looks up from the console and over at his teammates, "Yes well i would enjoy a bit better lighting in this place it's tricky to see where things are especially when it comes to more delicate repairs." Dreadwind shifts slightly his pale optics flicker in the darkness, "There are always worse places, places with more disease, less resources and far far greater danger. We are more than likely heading right to that place even now..." Up ahead, on the viewscreen, the planet's cloud's slowly swirl and change shape, forming new patterns that don't normally occur on other worlds. Though some of the planet's cities are currently shrouded in the darkness of night, facing away from the sun, no light shines up from them. Thermal signatures on the cities are rather cold compared to what one expect from a population center, and there are no stray radio transmissions, either, save for a garbled, static message. "Pfft! I doubt it!" Skullcruncher bellows in response to Dreadwind's depressing prediction. "It's probably just another stupid planet with stupid little aliens on it that are too stupid to do anything except be stupid!" He grins. "Makes ya think, don't it?" Motormaster hmphs, "I'll take your word for it," he replies, leaning back against a rare finished part of the bulkhead. He trusts Shockwave's judgement more than Scorponok's, though he's mighty curious as to just what 'acceptable chance' means, exactly. The Stunticon watches the viewscreen as the planet appears on it. He has no idea that those clouds are anything unusual. He ain't a cloudologist after all. "Knowing our luck, thats exactly where we'll end up. So I think we should just enjoy the ride while we can before it all goes to slag..." Darkwing muses as Throttle just shakes his head lightly. "Sometimes I think you forget who were bonded too. Neither of them seem to care for such finess, repair or otherwise." Opening up the throttle to her main thrusters, Fusillade is wreathed in pale yellow light as she pulls alongside the ship. Upon Shockwave's command, she slips foward, and rolls so that her belly slams into the gradually thickening atmosphere. A few moments pass, and the glow of her engines is eclipsed by the fulminant ruddy glow of her space tiles soaking up the tremendous frictional heat. The space-bomber rattles violently, a plasma-sheathed streak brilliant against the nightscape. Soon she breaks free, and she cuts her thrust drastically to skim through the rarefied, chilled air. With a flick of nose canards, she begins casting wide in supercruising sprints, soaring at over Mach speeds. <> Windshear stands quietly toward the back of those assembled on this mission and just watches. The look on his face doesnt lend well to him being in a super mood right now and as he stands there with his arms folded, he watches the images on the viewscreen and his mind wanders on just how this will turn out in the end. "We have entered the atmosphere," Shockwave announces over the firey roar of the Hellbender's reentry. His mastery of stating the blindingly obvious is legendary in Cybertronian history. Scorponok is okay with Motormaster not being a cloudologist. He brough him along to break things with extreme Motormasteryness. Not to look at puffy white things. The Warlord's claw jerks towards the exit hatch. "You heard her." He quips. "We're in atmosphere. If you can fly . . " He glances at Shockwave briefly. " . . and are not flying this ship, out! Scout and escort, by the numbers!"" Immediatly after this order is complete he leans back over his console; studying the approaching ground and the pattern of cities while he waits for Shockwave. " . . . scan results?" He demands. "Decepticon IFFs? Cybertronian Alloys?" He's technical enough to be able to at least read insturments. "What is that?" The blip on the radio frequency detector and that statiticy signal is indicated. The Sharkball can fly in either mode. He sits at the edge of the doorway, ready to be booted out like a care package from the UN getting tossed out of a cargo plane out of Hong Kong. "Xenon pies, Boron pies, Breem pies... ...the EMPIRE DEMANDS PIES!" Backfire cackles, kicking a foot at the Sharkticon's tail. Upon Scorponok's orders, he straightens up and throws up a salute. "Nothing would cause me more pleasure!" Dreadwind sighs, "Stupidity? Stupidity has nothing to do with us rushing to our demise, to face unknown horrors on the barren almost dead planet below. Take a long look around, all of us shall not be returning on this doomed ship, there is no happiness to be had here." Hi-Test probably has a more optimistic appraisal but he's got a job to do and that is now to get Dreadwind moving. Abandoning the console he was working on he runs over to Dreadwind and satrts the long process of encouragement, anyone trying to listen in will hear the theme of 'things will turn out alright, really they will'. Xx**XX*X* Once on the ground, the strangeness of this world does not relent. The world's plants look almost like coral, and come in a wide variety of bizarre color patterns. The sky is pale, and the cloud formations appear to have branching patterns which simply don't exist don't on other worlds. The world's capital also looks normal enough on first inspection, but upon attempting to navigate it, one realizes that the streets are also subject to mysterious geometric patterns, leading bystanders down roads that senselessly wind around and around before terminating in a dead end. There's very something strange about this place... Shockwave descends from the ship's gangplank, the Hellbender's hull still clicking and cooling. His head slowly rotates 360 degrees, three times, elevating gradually to take in all of his surroundings above and below in a single long chromatograph. "Highly intriguing." Scorponok is still pacing again; watching the sensor reports scrolling across the monitors on Shockwave's station and alternating between glances towards the main viewscreen as the sheer strangeness of this planet makes itself obvious. This is clue number one to at least Zarak that this will potentially be rather interesting. "Executrix Fusillade." He says; engaging his radio. "Take all /dedicated/ fliers present and find me an answer on that Cybertronian signal. I want a location immediatly. Bonuses and honor for the first to find it." By dedicated flyers too, he apparently means those who transform into aircraft since every Decepticon can fly. "Director. Analysis of the signatures. Land us nearby if you deem it safe." Motormaster figures when Scorponok says 'anyone who can fly', he means the natural fliers. Otherwise it'd be every Decepticons. Thus he stays on the bridge, stepping forward as others leave so he can get a better view of the screen. "What?" he asks Shockave, mildly interested in what is 'highly intriguing'. Dreadwind leans forwards allowing his body to fall towards the horizontal as his chest flips upwards concealing his head, while his legs pivot and his arms join to form the lower fuselage, to reveal a deadly F-16 Falcon. Hi-Test has left. Dreadwind takes Hi-Test. Leaping into the air, Darkwing transforms into a Panavia Tornado GR1 fighter jet Throttle has left. Darkwing takes Throttle. Windshear steps back and transforms, and hovers, waiting for orders. Robot Windshear transforms into a Cybertronian pyramid/Tetrajet. As the Decepticons approach the surface they'll notice a large metallic shape at the outskirts of the capital. It appears to be a mass of metal strands, arranged seemingly randomly. Purple paint seems to be streaked across some of the strands. The wind quietly whispers across the landscape. No one appears to be here, save for the Decepticons. Rocking her wings in greeting to any other Decepticon aircraft that form up on her, Fusillade points her nosecone back toward the city center and the Hellbender. <> she remarks, pinging back her location and the relative strength of the three major peaks in the transmission signal. <> She angles down toward the purple-smeared strands, condensation clouds puffing up and twisting away in recursive Lindenmayer streams. She loiters in a tight circling pattern as she begins to visually scan the difficult, crisscrossing patterns of metal and shadow against the blackness of night. F16 Falcon flies from the depths of the barely operational warship, apparently moved to action, by the incessant pleading voice that now occupies his cockpit. He looks down at the world below, "It's even worse than i thought it would be, look at the pointless construction complexity all utterly meaningless and non functional." Shockwave brings the ship down to hover just over a strangely swirling field of strangely curled grasses. The Hellbender's hull is still clicking and cooling as Shockwave extends the landing gear and sets it delicately down on the field outside of the city. Only one of the landing pods collapses with an ungainly screech and an awful-sounding bang. There are still three more of them. "We have made planetfall successfully," announces Shockwave when the shaking stops. "The #3 landing gear has collapsed. I will examine it when time allows." Crossing to the gangplank, he extends it and descends with slow, cautious step. As Shockwave steps out onto the field his head slowly rotates 360 degrees, three times, elevating gradually to take in all of his surroundings above and below in a single long chromatograph. "Highly intriguing. I detect no higher lifeforms. There is a recurring fractal pattern throughout the environment. I cannot yet calculate its seed number." Oh, maybe Skullcruncher wont get to do much of anything because he's not a plane. Damn racists. He steps onto the planet's surface and crosses his arms, surveying the horizon for things to kill or eat or maim. "...There's nothing here." Transmitting on broadband, Fusillade taunts, <> The Sharkball is punted out when Backfire kicks his tail. The roly-poly form drops and rolls like a billiard ball once he hits the ground. "Where yummies?" he asks. Backfire leaps out the craft, quickly transforming into F-16 mode. <> Cybertronian technology shifts and configures into a F-16! Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet flies out shortly after Dreadwind; as always Darkwing takes the rear in their formation as someone had to make sure the ever-depressed jet didn't back out. "Come on now, this might be fun. Maybe some of the less agile ones will get to crash and burn." Darkwing luaghs "That would at least make this trip worth it..." On top of a rooftop, something that looks a lot like a Seeker stands up on a rooftop, waving up at the flying Decepticons, screaming, "HELP! HELP! HELP!" Then a tarp is tossed by the wind over him, briefly obscuring the struggling Seeker from view. Skullcruncher may be an idiot, but he is also one of Scorponok's loyal soldiers. He's got several million years of exposure to that stupidity under his belt and he knows just how to handle it: "There is everything here. Especially . . opportunity." With the standard sound and a clank of claws, Scorponok drops down into his Scorpion mode and scuttles out of the Hellbender after Shockwave. He is unconcerned about the landing gear; a mere trifle that will easily be repaired. Even if it isn't, the vessel has anti-gravs for a reason. He leaves the control of the fliers and the search for the radio transmission to Fusillade. He is more than confident in her own abilities. What he is far more curious of is this strange landscape. "Director Shockwave." He says again, his tail upraised and targeting system fully online. He knows the name of the device they are after. "Odds that this place was /constructed/ in this manner? Postulate the chances of some . . . disaster . . . causing this? Assuming such a device could be made, are odds higher this place was constructed this way, or this was the result of an unknown event?" Motormaster crosses his arms as the Hellbende comes in for a landing, successfully touching down, but then reaches out to grab onto a nearby control chair when the ship shakes. "I hope that isn't surprise I hear," he tells of Shockwave's announcement. He rolls his optics concerning the #3 landing gear and steps out of the ship along with the others. "What about non-high lifeforms?" he asks Shockwave. He's hoping there's at least some monsters here that he could go out of his way to run over. He frowns about the news of the odd construction. What crazy planet is this? Beginning to shift and twist, Scorponok drops towards the ground as his scorpion legs appear and his tail rises upwards. Once his claws are in position the transformation sequence has been completed and he stands before you as a monolithic scorpion! Tetrajet flies along behind Dreadwind and Darkwing, not saying a word, just looking around at what lies before them ... and something that looks like Seeker then it looks like a tarped Seeker. He says nothing about it, lets those in front deal with it. Sex on Pipecleaner Legs! Fusillade says, "starts speculating. "OH OH Pitt what if it was NANITES that got outta control and ATE EVERYONE?! Oh wait there is a guy."" Sex on Pipecleaner Legs! Fusillade starts speculating. "OH OH Pitt what if it was NANITES that got outta control and ATE EVERYONE?! Oh wait there is a guy." F16 Falcon flies some distance behind Fusillade, whether it's to protect her or him is unclear, but in all likely hood it's because he can't be bothered to catch up fully. Dreadwind of course does not notice the hastily tarped seeker below, not that he could ahve saved him anyway noone can ever be saved. As always on an open frequency he continues to moan, "You're just going to attract their attention Fusillade and their retaliation to our invasion of this strange planet will overwhelm us, drag us down to their level and then slowly dismember us, circuit by agonising circuit." Opportunity? Skullcruncher ponders that for a second. Yeah...yeah! Maybe Scorponok is right! He punches a fist into an open palm and grins. "Let's go find some...alien things and beat them up until they tell us something important. That's what we're here for, right?" Dreadwind's radio is hijacked by Hi-Test, "Hey Fusillade please try not to set Dreadwind off even more... oh too late." Shockwave bends down and picks up one of the plants, holding it up to his eye. It looks like an ordinary fern, but Shockwave can see something in it. "This planet is what I will presently, for lack of sufficient data, call 'pseudo-organic.' Although it appears to be natural in many regards, it is in perfect obedience to a higher form of mathematics. It beggars belief that it should have naturally arisen in such a way. I postulate that it has been either created in obedience to iterated function systems, or it was at one time fully natural and has been altered by some... force or influence." He releases the fern, which sails away on a strangely curling breeze. "It is in many ways similar to a case I had the opportunity to observe in Kurouzu, Japan." "On a personal note," adds Shockwave, "I find the absolute mathematical regularity of this planet's life forms highly satisfying on an aesthetic level." Skullcruncher nods at Shockwave's words. "Hmm, yes, it's all so clear now." Shockwave points his cannon arm at the distant figure under the tarp. "We may find additional answers there," Shockwave announces, treading off in that direction with metronomic step. <> Fusillade plunges downward, but still refuses to transform. The turbulence as she swooshes over the screaming mech captures the loose material, either ripping it away or sending the mech tumbling. Back to the Hellbender's ground crew, she repeats her findings. <> The Sharkball stops rolling after awhile. He's not aware of what Shockwave is talking about, given he's just a simple sharkball that knows only food. "Can eat?" he asks. Tetrajet brings his weapons online and does as hes ordered; closes in on her position and stands by, again without a sound. Wow can he be any more chipper today? Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet seems to finally notice that windshear is silent "Oh no, I don't need to deal with you going emo. I get enough of that from Dreadwind!" Not that he'd ever complain if Dreadwind silently moped; but Windshear was usaly one of those that made thigns a bit more fun on these missions. "You sshould be happy, there doesn't seem like much thrat of drownign yet on this planet." Darkwing says as he hears Fusi's message and starts to close the gap between them. Motormaster grunts at Shockwave's techno-speak and tries to dumb it down for the audience. "So what, this is an artificially created environment?" he asks, unsure of whether he got that right. He doesn't care too much about the answer, but maybe it will lead to important insights when it finally comes to (as all things must) him running them over in truck mode. The seeker stops struggling under the tarp that's covered him. The tarp blows gently in the wind, as if all is well. Then, as a sound like glass shattering rings out, the tarp is blasted away by Fusillade's turbulence, revealing--nothing. Nothing save for a cloud of metallic particles that floats away. Sex on Pipecleaner Legs! Fusillade says, "AHHHHHHHHHHHH ahhhh I was right it's NANITES" Darkwing says, "We're all going die, aren't we?" Tetrajet rumbles, "I dont care right now..." Warlord Scorponok says, "Executrix, get ahold of yourself." F16 Falcon would love to point out to Shockwave that a perfectly mathematical place would object to their presence by trying to delete them utterly as soon as possible but fortunately for him Dreadwind is out of earshot. "So we have found the start of our pain, the end cannot be far away now, at least for the lucky ones." Dreadwind lags behind as the other jets form up tighter, he's a defender by duty so it's not altogether surprising. Warlord Scorponok says, "Report your findings." Warlord Scorponok says, "Director, postulate on them." Backfire says, "It will be an honorable death...you will be missed." Sex on Pipecleaner Legs! Fusillade says, "KILL IT KILL IT" Backfire says, "But the Decepticon EMPIRE shall march onward, to victory!" Darkwing says, "More then likely it will infect one of us, using our corpse as puppet, and wait untill its gotten to the heart of the empire before killing off all the rest of you." Sheriff Skullcruncher says, "That's kind of cool." Dreadwind says, "Darkwing is right, the survivors of what is about to happen, will wish that they had been killed instantly rather than becoming prisoners trapped within their own body." Giant Scorpion scuttles along, slowly. His attention is not on the skies, and not on the seeker but on the ground. The time is taken to attempt to smash one of the odd life forms with his claw. One of the squirmy coral-ly things underfoot. Brutal force is always good. Though this is a test and not for his satisfaction. Of course his satisfaction levels are dropping remarkably quickly. "Pseudo-Organic." Scorponok is unhappy because things are not coming togeather immediatly. While everyone else is heading towards the disappearing seeker, he is concentrating instead on the strange threads. Transforming, a wide area radar pulse is let go and communications station is brought online. Fasttrack rumbles out of his little cubbyhole and heads towards the 'stuff' or 'threads' at high speed. Scorponok begins to transform. The sequence seems somehow longer than his other modes and it becomes clear why. His body elongates, shifts and twists -- growing larger as he unfolds into his mobile fortress altmode. His turrets swing up and his anti-aircraft sonic cannon comes online while his ramps lower and repair bays open. Warlord Scorponok says, "Silence, or I will shoot you myself." Warlord Scorponok says, "Provide information, not speculation." Warlord Scorponok says, "Director Shockwave will do the speculating." Dreadwind says, "You won't be the first to do so." Catechism says, "Does he spectulate? I thought he calculated." At the spray of particles in her wake, Fusillade instantly scrolls through her bomb inventory. She certainly didn't blow it up. The figure went away on its own. Oh Primus what if she were right?! The Lancer goes evasive, opening up thrusters until she peels up and away in a mile a minute climb. Her panic on Decepticon frequencies may be justified, or just might be a product of her overly active imagination. She finally replies to Scorponok's demands on a tighter radio band. <> she says the last in a hoarse whisper. Space-Going B-1R Lancer kicks out a nuke just to be sure. Darkwing says, "Great, we can provide information on what it feels like to be eaten alive by these things. I am sure that it will be invaulble so that you can be prepare for your own honorable death at their microscopic hands..." Skullcruncher sees Scorponok stomping on stuff so he pulls one of the weird ferns out of the ground and begins to pummel it with a fist until it's nothing more than a bent and battered stem. "Correct," says the perfectly modulated voice projected from the speakers in Shockwave's chest. "More artificial than you are capable of understanding. Artificial at a level so fundamental that it suggests a degree of technological expertise approaching my own." He pauses as the distant flapping tarp seems to... disintegrate the shape under it. Shockwave swivels and fires a beam from his cannon which shears a nearby boulder in half, revealing that its interior is made up of infintesimal tesselating triangles. "But not surpassing it. And not one which this civilization was able to sustain. This is no ecosystem or even an intentional, controlled conversion. This place has been infected by the spiral. This is a /blast radius./" Warlord Scorponok sounds suddenly cheerful. Warlord Scorponok says, "Director." Dreadwind's radio is hijacked by Hi-Test, "Well it looked like something was there and then nothing, possibly an illusion or hologram but there did appear to be some kind of matter involved." Motormaster recoils in horror as he hears that Fusillade has been accosted by nanites. The Stunticon has no real weapon against something like that, but he draws out his Cyclone Gun just in case, figuring they might be defeatable by a stiff breeze. "So artificial that it could only have been done by nanites, Shockwave?" he asks in a tense tone. Warlord Scorponok says, "Where is the center of the . . . disturbance?" The Sharkticon tries eating the objects in the immediate area. He doesn't know whether they're 'real' or not...nor does he care. Om nom nom. Fortunately, though, that wasn't the only Seeker around, as another one runs out onto one of the roads leading into the city. He looks panicked, and is trying to wave away the Decepticons, screaming something at them. He is thrown to the ground once Fusillade's nuke goes off, though. The nuke, by the way, doesn't form a neat mushroom cloud. Rather, the blast appears to stream out of the impact point in flaming strands which loop around each other, and whip about the city, slicing buildings in half and even coming dangerously close to lashing one of the Decepticons in the air. Oh, and the local ecology seems to be completely helpless. Fasttrack transforms and begins to poke and scan over the strange threaded structure. Worrying over it and fussing over it until he leaps back, suddenly startled. Transforming back into his wheeled-apc-with-gun-thingy mode, the mini-con, if one can even call him that, because arguably he is an extension of Scorponok's own consciousness high-tails it back to the defense base to dock with the station and transfer the information. Scorponok is not afraid of nanites either, even if they are the cause of the mortal cosmic rust. If anything, Scorponok's manner is suddenly more intense. The mighty Scorpstation lifts off from the ground on massive anti-gravs; pushing forward as his question is repeated. "Shockwave, where is the center of the . . . " Fire flashes in the distance, and the odd dispersal pattern is located. "Shockwave, quickly. Where is the epi-centre?" "A likely hypothesis, but no," Shockwave replies to Motormaster. "I have detected no nanomachines on micrograph. This seems not to be arranged so crudely. I believe what we are dealing with is more subtle and more fundamental. There are certain numbers which describe the structure of reality itself. Pi. e. The Feynman point. I suspect that those numbers were somehow altered on this planet at some point in the past, and life forms which were incompatible with the new structure ceased to be. It may still be ongoing." He pauses to listen to his radio. "The epicenter of the pseudo-organic distortion is further in the city, several kilometers beyond Fusillade's bomb. You may wish to go around, if you are not shielded against hard radiation." Shockwave of course heads right into the city to follow the shortest line between two points. Galvatron says, "What's going *X*XX*X on over *x*X*Xx I can't understa*X*xx Radio is behaving *X*X**x" F16 Falcon sighs as he watches Fusillade streaking heavenward, he of course does go after her, it's not as if he could help she is about to die, she is the lucky one. "So we are investigating an unnatural site most likely due to an unknown weapon on an unknown planet with no visible occupants. This can only get worse." As if to confirm Dreadwind's observation of the futility of it all Fusillade's bomb goes off the explosion growing in a most unusual manner, which almost catches his wing, "Typical, we're all going to be killed by mathematics, we will be divided and scattered, our agony mutliplied a thousand fold till we are all finally totally and utterly negated." <> Fusillade murmurs as the mushr -- err, Mandelbrot cloud peels off and away. She shudders briefly as the major EMP washes over her, grateful for the systems hardening she had done for space travel. She circles back around, residual radiation sizzling at the edges of her sensors as she sizes up the crater in the southeastern quadrant of the sprawling fractal pattern. <> she says belatedly, before whipping around to join up on Shockwave's signal. Shockwave says, "Great Galvatron, we a*x*X*Xption of radio tX*XX*Xoff." Scorpstation keeps pace with Shockwave; though he remains in his heavily armored mobile base mode. He has no further contributions at this point except to be wary; continually sending out radar pulses as he goes. Galvatron says, "SPEAK UP! There's some X*XXx** Blaster, if this is your doing, I'm going to **XxXx** you!!" "If we are atomized and scattered we won't feel a thing.. which would be nice right about now.." Windshear growls as he flies along between the gloom team not exactly sounding too cheerful himself. Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet pulls up as he sees Fusi drop the nuke and flies after the rest of the 'squad'. "If we need to worry about being divided; maybe we should..." he says puasing as he sounds like he might be ill "Link up... then, at least their would be less of us for it to try and divide and we'd get a bit more fire power... Not that it would do any good; but at the very least we shouldn't just lie down and be desolved..." The Sharkball is still trying to consume the swirling fractal patterns, but it's sort of like trying to eat math. It's not filling and it just fills the poor Sharkticon's head with useless numbers. Motormaster squints at the odd explosion Fusillade's nuke causes. He listens to Shockwave's answer but only gets a fraction of what he says. He grunts at the part about going around. He ain't radiation shielded more than most Decepticons, but a little extra rads never hurt anyone, right? For now Motormaster is sticking with the Scorpstation and Shockwave, but he's ready to act should he receive orders. Skullcruncher continues to uproot the local plantlife and punch it to death. He's a professional. The second Seeker the Decepticons have encountered thus far--no, this isn't the one that mysteriously died earlier--pushes himself up, and runs towards the Decepticons on the ground, waving his hands furiously. "STOP! Stop! You have to leave this planet before you're infected!" He trips over a strange coral plant and lands face-first in front of the ground-based Decepticon team. F-16 runs up and starts kicking the Seeker in the back of the head, "You will /not/ ruin our conquest! Join in brothers!" he waves at the others, still kicking. F-16 to Decepticon, Backfire is here! Activating his transformation sequence, Scorponok begins to twist and shift. When the movement stops he stands before you in robot mode. Skullcruncher gasps and points at the waving, screaming Seeker. "Hey! A local!" He pulls out his gun and aims it at the new arrival. "LET'S SHOOT IT!" The response of Scorponok to Backfire is instantaneous and will probably serve as an example to all present: He simply attempts to backhand the Seeker as hard as he physically can. That is, he attempts to backhand Backfire away from the prone individual before something else can happen to him. "Director." He says, figuring he doesn't need to request any sort of analasys. Combat: Scorponok sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Scorponok strikes Backfire with his *SMACK* (Punch) attack! Skullcruncher shoves his gun behind his back and just remains silent after watching Backfire get slapped around by his pimp. Shockwave stares down at the prone seeker intently. "Identify and debrief, Decepticon," he commands, eye flickering as he scans the survivor with a widened X-ray laser from his cannon arm. Backfire is struck, spinning through the air like a dreidel before landing on the ground about ten feet away. Getting up, the overzealous Seeker is rubbin' his head. "Owwww, why is such loyal servitude regarded with such... ...PAIN?!?!" The sprinting Seeker catches Fusillade's attention, and the bomber soars overhead of the ground-pounding (literally in Skullcruncher's case) group. "I REALLY wouldn't do that!" she bellows down to Backfire, although Scorponok makes the point much more clearly and quickly. For now, she settles into a wide, sloppy figure eight pattern, slowly spiralling closer and closer to the mathematical limit of a Lorenz Attractor, wisps of her exhaust slithering away like a snack on PCP. F16 Falcon almost visibly shakes as the most hated of actions is put forward as an option by the ever cheery Darkwing, "Oh you'd just love that wouldn't you, our systems entwined, linked together, the loss of free will. No the only reason to do that would be for us to leave. If this is truely some terrible math infection of the planet we are likely the only ones not infected now. Those on the ground are already lost and perhaps Fusillade too, Windshear will just have to fly till he too crashes from energon depletion and becomes infected. Once again we are forced to continue while others fall." A chipper voice from his cockpit butts in, "Well i could maybe find a cure or something if it is an infection." The new Seeker whimpers, covering his head as he takes a kick, and sputters, "You know what? I'm trapped here, and I'm coming to turn into some mathematically twisted freak anyway, so why not? Go ahead! Hahaha, kill me, please! Then kill each other! It's better than the alternative, believe me!" But the death blow doesn't come, and the Seeker nervously stands up onto his feet. Judging from the crazed look in his optics, he hasn't gone through a defrag cycle in a long time. "My... my name's Vektor. I'm just a scout. I... the rest of my team, they're probably dead, or worse!" Vektor looks about, as if he thought something was creeping up on him. "L-look, please, forget about the fractal generator! It's too dangerous! We have to destroy this whole planet and just... leave it alone!" Sharkticon waddles up to the Seeker. "No eat?" he asks. "Why leave? What bad here? No food?" The Sharkball scratches the top of his head idly with a diminutive arm. Motormaster can't help but smile as Scorponok deals with Backfire's insolence the old fashioned way. Motormaster stands over the Seeker and stares down at him, as if trying to coerce him to get back up with sheer glower power. It doesn't help. "What say we grant this mech's request?" he asks Scorponok and Shockwave, already getting his Cyclone Gun ready to finish the Seeker off if he gets the go-ahead. Vektor looks at Gnaw, in particular, at a bit of foliage that's stuck between his teeth. "What the--oh, no, oh no! You ate some of that stuff!?" The seeker falls onto his back, scrambling away from the Sharkticon. "N-n-no, get away from me!" "He is clean," Shockwave declares after several seconds. "He has not been altered by the pattern." "See, even the Motorman has the PLAN!" Backfire yells off, still rubbing his temples. Skullcruncher shakes his fist at Gnaw. "Damnit! You're not supposed to eat it, you're supposed to MURDER it! YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!" Tetrajet studies the other seeker closely and starts circling over him. "Explain exactly what the slag has happened to you instead of giving us the hysterics of it, Vector." He rumbles a bit irritably. Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet says, "I don't like being any closer to you then I have to, Brother." Darkwing growls. Throttle pips up over the radio "Oh, that almost sounded positive Dreadwind. You sure your not comign down with something? Usually your talking about how your gonna be the first to go rather then the only one to survive. Maybe there is hope for you yet."" "Recount your experiences and we may consider your request," Shockwave tells the scout. "What happened to the rest of your team? What was the sheet-like shape that covered the survivor we first saw upon arriving and appeared to disinstegrate him?" Scorponok appears less than convinced at this point; his Anti-Gravity gun flashing into his hand. He does at least feel better. There is nothing like backhanding an idiot to get you re-focused on the task at hand. Again, he has nothing to contribute as he lets Shockwave do his interrogation work. Though Skullcruncher gets a /very/ ill look from him. 'Eating' and 'Murdering' are not significantly differentiated by the Sharkticon. Motormaster keeps his gun trained on Vektor, just in case he goes extra crazy and starts trying to kill people. He figures this is a likely possibility, all things considered. He waits to hear the story that Shockwave demanded. Vektor continues to scramble away from Gnaw, pointing at the Sharkticon. The Decepticons' queries go unheard by him. "F-f-fractal! He's a fractal! Look at him!" Indeed, something seems strange about Gnaw! His metallic hide appears to be growing spikes of extremely small size, and his body is quickly losing its original proportions! "Kill it! Kill it kill it!" Vektor screams! The Sharkticon's tummy is rumbling strangely just as all these strange changes come about on him. "Gnaw no feel good," he murmurs. Quick, someone stick their finger down his throat! With a flick of wing ailerons, Fusillade whips back around to corral the bickering Gloom Patrol back toward the discovered Seeker and the ground crew. <> she half-laughs into the comm, although she drops into silence as Vektor starts pointing and screaming at the Sharkticon. "Make up your mind! Kill me...Kill him...Kill me...Kill him. You're entirely too confusing, I'd smack you up..." Backfire states, looking at Vektor, still rubbing his head. "But you're not worth the headache!" Shockwave swivels his head towards Gnaw. His eye flashes as he takes several rapid steps back, transforms and hovers into the air. "Do not let it touch you. It has been infected by the spiral." His cannon hums a deep, shivering tone as it winds up. Shockwave undergoes an extremely simple transformation to become a giant flying space "laser." Combat: Shockwave sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Shoxcannon strikes Sharkticon with his Shoxcannon attack! "Whup, pull up guys," Fusillade advises the other fliers nearby. F16 Falcon sighs, "If that is true then just why do you insist on calling me brother, at best we are beings forced to work together. Oh and Throttle survival is never the relief you consider it to be, you have to continue with the horrors you have seen, deal with them every moment, no it is better to be die quickly. I never die first, i am merely the one that is painfully maimed and unable to continue, death prefers to taunt me that way." As Fusillade flies closer shepparding Dreadwind and the other he should probably keep his distnace but then it's more than likely already too late for him. "I'd hardly call these three excitable but Dreadwind does have a point." "Well boys, it looks like it's time to put down the puppy," Skullcruncher says before pulling out his gun and leveling it at Gnaw. He takes a good ten steps back when Shockwave opens fire and just cringes. Tetrajet pulls up and gains some altitude before looping back toward the two Ds. He shadows them from above. "Who says Id fly till I run out of energon and crashed? Id take at least one of you with me you know if that was the case... miseray loves company...miracles can happen..." He sure Dreadwind will understand that last comment. "Shut up!" Vektor yells at Backfire. "Help Shockwave kill that thing! We can't risk getting infected by fractals, too!" He shudders in fear. "Once the fractal gets ahold of you, it never lets go! It changes you, mind, body, and soul, according to its incomprehensible mathematical patterns!" "You seem to have a short memory, Dreadwind. I've explained in the past my reasons for the term." Darkwing replies as he pulls up further way from those on the ground, the last thing he needs to to be infected by whatever it is down there. "You know its a bad day when I'm being more positive then Windshear..." Scorponok hefts his Anti-Gravity gun towards Gnaw; building a charge swiftly and smoothly. On the point of firing at Gnaw, something seems to occur to him. "Motormaster, proceed." He says; lowering the glowing weapon to round suddenly on Vektor. He reaches out, attempting to grab the seeker by both his upper arms and heft him clear of the ground. He asks a very simple question at thunderous volume: "WHERE IS THE FRACTAL GENERATOR?!" Pulling up between the three Seekers, Fusillade punches through a cloudbank, which pulls away and crashes back upon itself in a rolled up, scroll shaped Levy Curve. <> She challenges the panicked Vektor, perhaps as a way to see just how fit he is -- and whether or not he himself was infected. Fractal Generator, huh? <> "Hey, this coming from the guy who got me slapped around and Mech-handled...thanks, but no thanks." Backfire retorts at Vektor, looking all smug. "I'll wait until DIRECT orders until I do anything around that guy!" he jerks a thumb at Scorponok. "Kill it," Shockwave orders Backfire directly. Skullcruncher waves his hand around. "Can I kill it too?" "You got it," Motormaster says. He takes the Cyclone Gun off Vektor and instead aims for Gnaw, firing a quick blast at him. He doesn't spend much time aiming, though, as he figures scaring Gnaw is good enough. Also, Motormaster really can't aim for s--- so this way he has plausible deniability in case Gnaw avoids the air pulse fired at him. "Everyone," amplifies Shockwave, who is still hovering and recharging. It takes a while to recharge one of those shots. Combat: Shoxcannon takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Backfire shrugs, "Orders are orders..." The newly transferred Seeker points his particle beam disruptors at Gnaw, "My apologies comrade sharkthing... ...your death shall prove a beacon of everlasting hope and strength to our faction, a light in the night that shines brighter than any other, a..." before Scorponok can slap him again, Backfire ceases his speech and fires upon Gnaw. Vektor sputters at Fusillade, "Fly? No, I'm too low on energon to fly anywhere! The fuel on this planet is contaminated, like everything else. And hey, as for you--" He whirls on Backfire. "Do you have any idea the kinds of horrible things I've been through? What I've seen? The kind of waking nightmare I've--hrrk!" Vektor's tirade ends as soon as Scorponok's claw snatches him. "It... urk... it... it's adjacent to the city's nuclear reactor..." he says, as if defeated. Skullcruncher pumps his fist in the air. Maybe this adventure wasn't a complete waste of time after all! He points his super cool gun at Gnaw and fires except instead of bullets it fires rubberizing rays or something. Skullcruncher isn't really one hundred percent sure. Combat: Skullcruncher sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Skullcruncher strikes Sharkticon with his Demolecularization Gun attack! Combat: Backfire strikes Sharkticon with his Friendly Fire! attack! -4 Gnaw's blasted from several angles and severely damaged! The strength of the assault causes some gurgling...then a shuddering...then suddenly the sharkball SPEWS a stream of fractals everywhere out of his mouth. It's like puking rainbows and algebra. By now, Gnaw is no longer Gnaw, but rather, X*xX. Not a Sharkticon, but rather, a fractal shape, continuing to evolve and grow, even as the Decetpticons' attacks smash at its structure. Backfire is covered in fractal juice. "This is /so/ not cool." F16 Falcon flies along and seeing as Shockwave is trying to terminate someone other than him flies out to a greater radius sure that the giant purple cannon will easily obliterate whatever it is that's lucky enough to draw Shockwave's wrath. "It's always a bad day, most get worse and worse." He does however pick up some of the chatter, "Fractal generator? Who would waste time on such a pointless endeavour?" Dreadwind slowly comes around he may be going for an attack run, but the mutating Sharkticon seems to be something of a growing menace. "And so another falls." His weapons come online and blast away at the X*xXticon. Combat: F16 Falcon strikes Sharkticon with his Thermal Melters attack! Vektor shrieks out, "Wipe it off, in the name of Primus, wipe it off!" Skullcruncher points at Backfire, his mouth open in shock and awe. "OH MY GOD! HE'S BEEN HIT! HE'S INFECTED! AAAAAGH!" Skullcruncher begins to fire rubber lasers everywhere. Scorponok is ignorant of Gnaw and his plight. He is much more intent on Vektor as he shakes the seeker somewhat between his claws. "Retreat." He orders to those assembled; throwing Vektor aside as he begins to back up, anti-gravity gun suddenly at the ready again. "Fusillade! Windshear! Dreadwing! Dreadwind! Engage afterburners, and find that reactor. /FIND IT!/" He says. "IDIOTS! COMPOSE YOURSELVES!" A deep throated bellow from Scorponok, combined with Zarak's higher pitched voice. Warlord Scorponok says, "Compose yourselves. Concentrate fire." Warlord Scorponok says, "Backfire, cleanse yourself." Backfire runs over towards Skullcruncher "Quick, help! Do something!" He grabs the Decepticon by the hands and panics. "I DON'T WANT TO BE AN UGLY SHARKTHANG!" "Gah!" Motormaster exclaims, backing up as his legs are pelted by fractal shapes. This is almost as bad as that time Blot tried to take over the Decepticon Empire by throwing Lucky Charms at everyone. "N-no!" he stammers, looking down with horror to see what affect this might have on him. Fighting a virus (or whatever) like this is not Motormaster's idea of a good fight. Skullcruncher's face contorts into an expression of terror as Backfire rubs his infested hands all over him. "AAAGH! GET AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY FROM ME! YOU'RE INFECTED! YOU'RE A MONSTER!" Shoxcannon hovers away and tries adjusting his radiation pulse to a different beam and spreading it wider. "Hold still, Backfire. I will burn off the infection." Combat: Shoxcannon strikes Sharkticon with his Infrared Wave Area attack! -7 Combat: Shoxcannon misses Backfire with his Infrared Wave Area attack! -7 "NO, WE'RE A MONSTAAAARRRR!!!" Backfire groans, doubling over as his spinal column grows a large amount of spikes, his wings branching out like a tree's limbs. One arm shrinks up, while the other bulks to Dinobot proportions. Shoxcannon doesn't shoot Backfire anywhere important in the process, thankfully. Tetrajet hears Scorponoks order, and...just has no comment for it that would be nice. But without a word, he lights the pipes and follows the rest further into the city looking for some generator wondering what the point is in it at this point. Nothing on the surface looks like its going to be there much longer, sane, at least at any rate. Vektor lands with an 'oof' on the ground, and gasps as he sees that several more Decepticons might become fractals! "Yes, burn off the infected areas! That sometimes works! I think I've managed to avoid becoming a fractal that way!" Indeed, Vektor's body shows numerous scorch marks, all of them self-inflicted. The nuclear reactor Vektor referred to looms in the middle of the city. Can't miss it. Dipping one wing, Fusillade backtracks, and sets off on a blistering path toward the city center. <> The bomber drawls out to the F-16. She's excited by the prospect of exploring, although it doesn't really strike her yet that the TRUE center of the city might be below ground, where there's less room to maneuver. The inky night sky gives way to larger, harder, more obvious lines, contorted upon each other in a crenulated techno-organic lichen. <> Scorponok is somehow remaining calm. "Executrix." He repeats. "Able-bodied flyers. Get out of here and FIND THAT GENERATOR!" He drops down into his Scorpion mode; bringing both claws upwards and snapping them threatningly while beginning to back off from Motormaster, Backfire, Gnaw and Skullcruncher. Not out of fear, but out of the simple need to give himself a shot at anyone who is being an idiot in particular. Suddenly, his tail rises. A trio of crimson laser beams appear. Targeting lasers. One attempts to brush over Skullcruncher, one attempts to brush over Backfire, and one attempts to brush over Motormaster. Then, suddenly, they dissapear when Vektor speaks. Turning, Scorponok aims the targeting laser at the seeker's left foot. In what is likely to seem as an act of intolerable cruelty, that tremendous cannon on his tail fires. As Backfire transforms (AHURRRHURRR) into a horrible spikey beast, Skullcruncher pulls out his awesome tail sword and holds it over his head like He-Man. "DIE MONSTER! YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD!" Then he tries to hit Backfire with it because, well, that's what you do with sword. Combat: Skullcruncher strikes Backfire with his Tail Sword attack! Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet says, "Seems like Backfire can now be killed... for the glory of the empire of course..." He muses untill he hears Scorponok's order and turns off from the rest of the group to look for the fractle generator; leaving Dreadwind to napalm the area. He doubts that Dreadwind would be taken out by something like that, its the others that he'd need to watch the backs of; espcially Windshear in his current funk." The poor little mutant Sharkball is still violently spewing numbers and colors as more blasts hit him. He tips over and falls flat on his face, still throwing up. His tail grows huge and purple and blue and green, the spikes growing impossibly large....then shrinks again. Vektor's left foot is quickly atomized. "AAAGGHH! Why did you do that?" he shrieks. "I told you where the generator is! What more do you want!?" The seeker grasps his stump, wincing in pain. Nothing weird seems to pop out of the injury, though. Tetrajet doesnt reply to Fusillade but does begin scanning the area for anything 'generator'. As he heads further into this city he picks up readings from something in the center, something large. One really cant miss what it is.. the generator..<<"Look straight to the center of this.. city, Fusillade.">> he radios finally. "Shockwave!" Motormaster calls out. "Burn this blasted stuff off of me!" As brave a warrior as Motormaster is, this is something he cannot fight. He holds as still as he can while hoping and praying to Primus that Shockwave can save him in his super gun mode. "Hurry!" The Stunticon might panic soon enough. In all the excitement, Fusillade did finally manage to see it. <> she exclaims, and then hrns to herself. The distribution canisters mounted on either side of the central core sprawled out like a wildly growing Julia Set. <> She calls down, <> F16 Falcon of course is unflustered by the screams of terror, ex-sharkticon apparently puking himself to death and friendly fire being thrown about, he's seen warriors go insane without reason before at least these have a visible reason to go nuts. He receives orders and banks away from the ground based chaos theory put into practice and heads for the large dome in the city, if he can't find the generator the next best move would be to destroy the reactor and let it remove the generator. "Everyone can be killed, it's just a matter of time." Shoxcannon adjusts his position to sweep the beam more horizontally, since Motormaster has it mainly on his legs. "Hold your arms above your head." Combat: Shoxcannon strikes Motormaster with his Thermal 'Cleansing' Area attack! -8 Combat: Shoxcannon strikes Sharkticon with his Thermal 'Cleansing' Area attack! -8 Combat: Sharkticon falls to the ground, unconscious. Combat: Shoxcannon strikes Backfire with his Thermal 'Cleansing' Area attack! -8 VEEEEEEEM Backfire falls down to the ground, the extra limbs sort of going transparent...then fading away entirely. Mech fluid drips from his open mouth with clockwork precision, forming a large pool underneath him. "Uhh...." he mutters, feeling his wings and arms for any abnormalities. Sharkticon would fall over, if he were still standing. As it is he rolls slightly. And then he stops moving, stops throwing up. x.x Tetrajet hears Fusillade and as he scans he relays to her what hes seeing, "Nothing that really stands out save for a flickering light in front of the reactor..." no hes not that talkattive today is he? Dreadwind says, "Size is not important Fusillade, if we cannot locate the actual generator then the nuclear plant must be the target, finally obliteration in terrible bright light." "/SLAG/." This vehemently delivered line might be the first time in easy memory that anyone can actually remember Scorponok swearing. He pauses for just a second to address Vektor. "Merely to confirm that you were not a fractal entity yourself. Now stop snivelling! It will be repaired!" Then he is transforming into his robot mode and taking to the air; heading for the reactor and the generator at best possible speed. It will take him a moment or so to reach it. Sex on Pipecleaner Legs! Fusillade says, "Hnn. She LIED, Dreadwind." Shockwave simply straightens up and rotates in a few places to assume his robot mode. Shockwave transforms back and lands beside Vektor with a thud, hauling him up by the arm. "Come with me. We will return to our ship. Once back on Cybertron I will erase your recent memory, obliterating the trauma you have endured so that you may resume normal operation in service to the Empire." Darkwing says, "Dreadwind would never know what he's talking about in that area, Fusi." Tetrajet pulls up sharply at Darkwings commment.. a terrible bright light... thats how hes always said id be..."Thats how it ends, Darkwing.." he rumbles.."But can we be so lucky?" Vektor calms down a bit once he sees Gnaw the fractal shark is done for, and says, "Listen, we came here to grab the fractal generator, right? And we saw it--the indigenous species had it trapped in a containment field. From our interrogations, we learned that it's some sort artificially created singularity. They were going to use it to create super strong metals with a fractal crystalline structure, fractal art, and they were even planning on using it for FTL travel." The gumby seeker is lifted up into the air by Shockwave, and he continues to explain. "We tried to steal it, but we didn't really have a plan. We just... figured we could turn off the containment field and tractor it along or something. We didn't realize what would happen! It just... corrupted the whole planet! Soar managed to reactivate the containment field, but the field emitters were partly fractalized. They don't work correctly anymore, and the effect is continuing to spread!" He shudders. "And the people of this world... they're not dead! Not exactly!" To Shockwave's offer, Vektor says, "Thank you, sir! If I forgot everything I ever experienced, it would be worth it to forget this place!" F16 Falcon circles the reactor trying to discover the location of the fractal maker his thermal melters switching to a spread pattern, as he does this his cockpit opens and Hi-Test leaps out and rather than falling to his death transforms and merges with Dreadwind. Clearly he thinks that Dreadwind is going to need all the power available to destroy this mathematical terror the Decepticons have discovered. "I assume no one has located the target, i should have know, the bright and cheery was always going to destroy me..." <> Fusillade radios to the other retreating planes. She finally transforms, preemptively shooting out vicious glares toward anyone who might snicker at her ridiculous Vehicon-Segway unicycle arrangement. Drawing one wingblade, she hmmms as she examines the light filtering through the multitude of tiny squares speckling the surface of the Megner Sponge shaped shed at the reactor's entry. "As longs as its bright and cheery in a big bangaft ball of light you should be fine," Windshear says. "The people of this world are not of interest to me except insofar as they may serve," Shockwave replies pitilessly to Vektor, carrying him along since seekers can't fly without both feet as that's where their exhaust nacelles are. "At the moment they serve as an example. Is the generator powered externally? How can it be shut off before separating it from the containment field?" Scorponok catches up to Fusillade finally and lands beside her; brows narrowing as he looms above, attempting to make sense of this entire mess. Fortunatly, or perhaps unfortunatly, he was out of range of hearing the Seeker's explanation. He'd have been satisfied to hear it though since it explains how he knew where the fractal generator was without being an alien spiral fugly thing. Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet watches as Fusi heads down. "Well at least Fusi can let us know if anything goes wrong. Her screams of terror will be a good alarm for the rest of us to high tail it out of here." Darkwing replies, makign sure to keep his distance between him and the Generator. He wasn't good for extraction anyway. Motormaster holds his arms up, protecting both them and the gun he's carrying. He grits his teeth as Shockwave tries to burn the fractals off. The outer armouring on his legs have been torn off. "Is it gone? Are they gone?!" he demands, looking down. He doesn't see any signs of infection, but needs more reassurance than that. Tetrajet pulls back and up and then circles around and waits for anything to happen below. Backfire rises, trying to regain balance and nominal operation status...that will take awhile. The light, upon closer examination, appears to be an extremely bright, multicolored, fluctuating ball, suspended in place between four metal arms, which are aiming some sort of projector at the ball. The original shape of the arms is somewhat hard to tell, since they have been somewhat distorted by the fractalization effect, but they still work... mostly. "The generator is self-sustaining," Vektor explains. "Once you drop the containment field, it'll start all over again, and we'll be done for! I don't know if you can turn it off, exactly, but I did learn from the aliens on this planet that its size and power can be increased by feeding it energy." He frowns. "If only we had used Shield's forcefield generator on it when we had the chance. It might've contained that thing long enough to get it back into a lab." F16 Falcon continues to circle, "So do we have a target or are we going to just wait until we are all infected becoming mindless servants of the fractal, it doesn't really matter to me it's not as if either is going to be a painless action." Frowning some, Fusillade peers at hte fluctuating rainbow patterns cast out by the not-so-little-anymore light. She spares a glance as Scorponok rumbles up next to her. "So," she quips to the warlord after hearing Vektor's explanation, "Did you want to attach Shockwave to it to power it, and cart this puppy home?" She makes a very firm mental note to fly escort to the Hellbender on the return trip, where she will be safely OFF the ship. Frowning some, Fusillade peers at hte fluctuating rainbow patterns cast out by the not-so-little-anymore light. She spares a glance as Scorponok rumbles up next to her. "So," she quips to the warlord. "Do we actually have enough qualified personnel to avoid turning the NCC shark into abstract expressionist art?" Tetrajet sighs mentally, "If you're mindless, Dreadwind, then how would you know you are infected and a servent? If you become mindless then you arent aware of the eventual blackness..." He rumbles slightly and with a roll reverses the circle hes been flying in it seems for a long time now. Scorponok returns his gun to the holster and approaches the Fractal Generator. Glancing to Fusillade, he offers a single word. "No." Then an explanation: "That will be insufficient. Director Shockwave and I have been discussing the matter via personal radio. An attempt to move the device will further destabilize it." His claws reach outwards; blue energy forming around them. A shimmering second later a powerful forcefield appears around the generator. It is quite wide, with a good distance to spare. But with motions of his claws, Scorponok slowly contracts it; watching for any signs of change. "Perhaps this will help. Executrix, search the area. There must be some sort of control nearby. Lest you wish to be abstract art yourself." Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet says, "Not like anyone is gonna bother to admit this is end, they'll all hold on to their flimsy idea of hope that this will be succuess; while all we will be doing is delievering our doom to our doorstep. Least its nice knowing how the end is going to come..." Darkwing muses as he circles around. "Great, now your startinf to sound like the other two..." Throttle groans as he could usualy count on Darkwing to at least have a brighter view then everyone else around him." That seemed to help--the Fractal ball appears to shrink in size when Scorponok puts his force field around it, and is fluctuating is stabilized. However, it flares more brightly, and its colors swirl more quickly, as if it is angry at being trapped inside the energy field. Outside, however, a new development has arisen. Odd skittering noises and cries echo throughout the strangely winding streets. "Oh, no!" Vektor says. "It's the inhabititants!" "Aww Slaggit, now you tell us!" Backfire roars at Vektor. "Seriously dude, why did Scorponok stop me from kicking you in the head?" Motormaster catches up to the others via flight. Normally he detests this mode of transportation unless he has no choice, but he's too damned scared of something on the ground infecteing him again. Now next to Scorponok and Shockwave once again, Motormaster visually examines the Fractal Generator and the forcefield keeping it contained. "The hell's that?" he asks of the skittering noises. He gets a prompt answer from Vektor and his grimace deepens. He doesn't want to be infected again, but if it comes down to it he's planning to take out as many fractal zombies as he can before going down. The sleek bomber rears up, wings collapsing onto hips even as the rear fuselage splits to form arms. The horizontal stabilizer slides up, the forward fuselage folds up accordian style, and Fusillade hops up on thrustered feet. Shockwave locks Vektor into a supply closet on the Hellbender, since the brig is still not finished. "Stay here," he commands, tromping off to go return to the other Decepticons. "Oka--" Vektor says before he is locked away. Seconds later, though, he starts to scream, "Wait, don't leave me here in the dark! Shockwave, are you there? Is anyone there?" Then, quiet sobbing. Shockwave arrives just before Motormaster (he is much faster in flight than most Decepticons in their robot modes). "That is the fractal generator. It is its own power source. The forcefield that the locals erected around it is to protect the planet from it, not the other way around. But at some point before the field being raised, it must have been incomplete and inactive. There must be some way to return it to that state without destroying it." F16 Falcon flies lower trying to spy a better look at whatever it is Fusillade and Scorponok are so interested in or at least an annoying urging is forcing him to do so, "That is it? We will be destroyed by those horrid changing patterns and gaudy colours, i knew it." Transforming Dreadwind hangs motionless in the sky supported by the dull glow of his back mounted flight systems, Hi-Test transmits <> F-16 Falcon suddenly halts it's forwards momentum and pulls up as it bends in half. The body of the jet twists and unfolds to become legs, while arms extrude themselves from the fuselage sides. Shockwave turns to examine one of the generator room computers, the fingers of his one hand splitting and subdividing until he can palm the entire keyboard one-handed and type with incredible speed. "I advise that you look to our defenses. The locals seem to have survived in some form as yet unknown." Most of Scorponok's concentration is now taken up by maintaining his forcefield and increasing it's complexity. More and more power is shunted forth as he adds another layer or so to it, skillfully weaving an ever-thickening web of energy even as it taxes his own energon reserves. "Deal with the locals as you see fit." It's a suggestion, an order and a command all at once. Backfire kicks the bottom of the door, "Shaddup!" With a slight hunch of shoulders, Fusillade mmphs to Scorponok, but complies, wheeling away on the rough terrain to his right. She mutters to herself as she tries to puzzle out any genuine disturbances in the recursive patterns. Was that a bump? No, just another subset. Was there... really no control module of any kind? She fruitlessly casts about, tensing up as Dreadwind approaches. "LOOKING for something that might not even BE here, I don't know, this swirls are a huge mess," she pouts as Shockwave seems to successfully uncover what Scorponok sought. She turns her attention to the main entrance, a faint hum escaping her as she begins spooling up her magnetic systems. Then, the scary noises start up again. Making sure no one else is around, Backfire leans real close to the supply closet's vent. "Err...what is that?" Skitta skitta skitta. "X*X*Xxxx*!!!" Skitta skitta skitta. "*XXX*x*X**x!!!!!" From the streets of the city, a mass of shambling *shapes* rolls, squirms, wriggles, and shudders towards the Decepticons. Their exact shape is almost impossible to describe, and pointless anyway, since it is constantly changing. For instance, one creature appears to grow a pair of eyes, but then they are drawn back into itself, then several more eyes appear across its body. Then it sprouts eight tentacles, covered in a layer of barbs upon barbs upon barbs. Elsewhere, Vektor says, "What, are they on the ship!?" Backfire swivels his head around quickly, scanning the area. "No...at least I don't think so." Just in case, the Seeker pulls out his trusty Hypno Ray and strikes a James Bond pose. Scorponok is continuing to constrict his forcefield around the fractal generator. Though, now he is watching to see if it has any effect on the incoming creatures. Fusillade gets a quick look. "Perhaps that might be more towards your bent to handle, Executrix." The monster is indicated. If it gets too close, he'll have to drop his forcefield and shoot. Hi-Test is immediately glad that he advised Dreadwind to keep airborne as it now gives the pair a safe vantage point as the alien fractal monsters shamble forwards presumably to defend their pulsing, sickening god. "So they make themselves known, i am not surprised they hid before they are hideously deformed, though the true threat will likely not reveal itself to us until these are destroyed only then will the true beast tear us appart." Raising his rifles Dreadwind fires at the crowd engulfing it in a powerful area blast of super heated melting death. Combat: Shockwave compares his Intelligence to 90: Failure :( As the writhing mounds of enraged equation sets sluice towards the Decepticon contigent, Fusillade gives a sharp nod to Scorponok, knits her fingers together, and cracks knuckles by turning her palms out. "This is why the mission brief asked for elite warriors," she grins, before immolating the doorway and proximal hallway with super-ionized plasma. Shockwave announces over the horrible sounds of the 'locals,' "I have found a partial file relevant to our interests. Most of the data in these systems has been corrupted beyond recovery by the spiral. This file is a worklog by the original engineers which refers to the best practices for transporting the fractal generator using a weaker, portable containment field. The log is heavily but not entirely replaced by a self-iterating L-phase pattern. I am attempting to decipher it using an artifact I collected on Earth, a two hundred and sixteen digit number of... certain properties which I cannot go into at this point. Working." Backfire stalks out of the Hellbender, only to return shortly with Gnaw in tow...drug on the ground in a nice plastic black zip-up bag. Tetrajet watches these things closing in on the cons working below to secure this generator and bringing his lasers on line lights the pipes and heads downward, lasers blazing at the creatures. He so wants to shoot anything right now and thats exactly what hes doing. He doesn tpay much attention to the two Ds around him when he dives downward so hopefully they stayed clear of him. Dreadwind and Windshear's attacks incinerate huge numbers of the Fractal monsters. They're organic, so every hit quickly obliterates them into messy goo. But as every single inhabitant of the planet was fractalized, there are a lot of them, and they continue their relentless shamble towards the Decepticons. Once Shockwave applies his secret mathematical formula, the rest of the log quickly becomes readable to him. Almost like magic... Scorponok seems a trifle concerned with what Shockwave says; even though he should be. He turns, keeping one clawed limb on the forcefield to stabilize it; even though it weakens somewhat when his attention is turned away. The other hand summons his Anti-Gravity gun and points it downrange. A soft whining sound is heard as the cannon's fusion generators come online. Suddenly, for a split second, gravity in the area around Scorponok seems to lighten by just a trace and then.... FRAKOOM!. A beam of magenta energy is added to Fusillade's fire and that of others. "A prompt solution would be ideal, Shockwave." Tetrajet pulls up and around, chuckling at one creature that splattered rather colorfully. Then he swings around and does another strafing run, not low enough to spatter the stuff on him when it goes blooy but close enough to ensure his shots dont stray off and his the cons working to get the generator Motormaster turns in horror at the sight of the incoming fractal shapes that boggle the mind. He's going to be seeing these freaky things in his nightmares. The Stunticon takes aim with his Cyclone Gun, setting it for wide dispersal as he attempts to blow them away. He's using this gun as he doesn't want to be touched by the disgusting creatures. "DIE, you inmachine monsters! Die and die again!" He's barely even aiming at this point. Combat: Motormaster sets his defense level to Neutral. Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet , spotting the locals, quickly transforms to his robot mode; Throttle ejects and connects as his engine to give his partner a better chance agaisnt these mathmatical horrors. "At last, something that I can actually do! Though I doubt these things can suffer any more then they currently are, I'm not above giving them more pain to suffer through!" He says with an almost glleeful laugh as he starts to fire on the inhabitants of the planet with his blasters. With the sound ot turnign gears ans shifting metal, Darkwing changes into his ever blue robot mode. "I see," intones Shockwave coolly, stepping away from the panel and clamping his hand back into its normal configuration. He moves quickly around the containment field projectors, pulling off panels and making adjustments to them. Finally he rips the wall open, pulls two wires out and pinches them together to cause a short circuit. Spurred on by the seeming effectiveness of Dreadwind's initial area attack Hi-Test goes into overdrive shunting even more energy through his systems and into his weapon systems. "Time, there is no time left, we will all face a fractally induced death within moments, there are too many of them and not enough energy left in our reserves." Dreadwind continues to fire almost relentlessly mowing down the once citizens, the countless deaths merely adding to the weight of the multitudes he has already borne witness to. As Dreadwind steps up beside her and lays into the shambling hordes, Fusillade casts him a brief look of approval. Scorponok lays into them as well, and Windshear's and Motormaster's efforts from outside help complete the pincher. She begins emptying out her electromagnetic payload. "Just keep slogging through them, Dreadwind!!!!" Fusillade barks out. Tetrajet is having fun, sadistic fun just stafing the creatures one way then the next then back again... outside of that one chuckle, hes silent. Maybe if he keeps firing long enough he might blast himself into a better mood.. who knows. The Fractal monsters are blasted every which way by a wide variety of weapons--many of them are partially lifted off the ground before a fusion beam annihilates them, others are splattered across the city by an artificial cyclone (their shapes make them REALLY susceptible to wind attacks), Fusillade fries many more, and the strafing runs from Windshear, Dreadwind, and Darkwing carve huge chunks out of their numbers. However, their masses continue to swell regardless as they pour out of their hiding places, squirming on top of each other as they try to get to the Decepticons. Then, suddenly, their writhing masses shudder, and folding in on themselves. The Fractal monsters collapse onto the ground, as if deflated, quivering helplessly, their evolution into new shapes abruptly halted. Meanwhile, the Fractal Generator, thanks to Shockwave's efforts has shrunken down immensely to about the size of a marble. Its glow is very dim now. Scorponok wastes absolutely no time in holstering his rifle once more, condensing his forcefield around the 'marble' at Maximum power and attempting to pick it up in one clawed hand. Not even time for a gloat or the like. Backfire is relaxing in the Hellbender, hanging out with a corpse and a crazy Seeker. What FUN! "Anyone out there?" Vektor moans. "Objective acquired," Shockwave announces, returning in the direction of the Hellbender at best possible speed to get it dusted off. "Decepticons, retreat." Warlord Scorponok says, "Director Shockwave is correct." Warlord Scorponok says, "Retreat at best possible speed. You have all done exceptionally well." Dreadwind of course doesn't see the look of approval all he can see is his one constant companion, Death stands beside him urging him to kill more and more as a tiny part of him revels in the death and destruction he is causing and then the enemy collapses in on itself. "It is over? But only for now, there is always more pain, more death, suffering will find a way..." Having said that Dreadwind starts to leave driftng skywards as soon as possible. For Darkwing, sluaghtering was always sadistic fun; tryign to make sure that his enemies suffer as much as possible before they join the eternal blackness of the universe. Those these creatures seem to have already suffered much and end up collspasing in on theirselves. "I don't think we shoudl celebrate if your really bringing that thing back with us, for this to repeat once more..." Darkwing replies as he heads back to the ship. "Yeah, still here. I think I scared off those ... things." Backfire gloats, before going wide-eyed when a shrill shriek is sent up again from outside the ship. Backfire says, "Even me?" Tetrajet keeps firing away and it takes a couple more runs before he realizes everyones retreating.. slag! he guns it to catch up, falling in with the two Ds in silence. Vektor screams in terror, and knocks over various objects inside the closet. Warlord Scorponok says, "No." Fusillade leans forward, wingblades whipping out to their full span, even as her arms lock backward in place as the rear fuselage. Her torso folds out to the become the cockpit of a space capable B-1R Lancer, ready for flight! Darkwing just chuckles over his radio hearing that. Scorponok keeps the small glowing orb safely in his clawed hand. "That is not for you to speculate on, Darkwing." Then turning, he begins to retrace his steps towards the Hellbender. "Executrix." He says. "Your last thought was correct. Elite warriors for an elite task. I tire /ever so much/ at cannon fodder." Since Backfire has already collected Gnaw he enters the vessel. At his hands or someone else, the Hellbender conducts a power up sequence and lifts off; limping away after the damaged landing gear retracts. And so, it dissapears off to the safety of the void. And beyond it . . home. Hauling herself skyward, Fusillade ignites rocket boosters to partial thrust, atmospheric engines suspiciously absent on her frame. She doesn't rendezvous with the Hellbender immediately, instead loitering a few moments longer, before lobbing a few spiteful warheads at the already smoldering wreck of the city. SOME TIME LATER... NCC Command Center The blue metals used in the rest of New Crystal City have been darkened here, their reflectivity reduced without being eliminated. The lighting is a contrasting red that, once bounced off the blue of the surfaces, gives the area an ambience of very Decepticon purple. The walls of this very large, domed polygon alternate terminal and work station segments with large metal >PANELS< that curve overhead to join with the arch of the ceiling. The front of the room is distinguishable from the rest by the large monitors that replace four of the work stations and display various areas of the city. The three etched panels that divide these four monitors seem to glorify the city itself. >LEFT<, >RIGHT<, and >CENTER<, each depicts an incarnation of cities that have gone by the name of Crystal City. Almost conspicuous in its absence is any presentation of Airwolf's rebuild of Crystal City. Galvatron is currently sitting on his throne at the moment. He doesn't appear to be engaged in doing anything--he's just resting his chin on the palm of his hand, glaring out at nothing. Who knows what mad schemes are churning in his head? The repetitive clanking that is audible faintly in the distance grows, becoming ever more laden with volume. Clearly, a very large individual is approaching. Sure enough, Scorponok looms large in the doorway to the Command Center and begins to make his way towards Galvatron. There is no disrespect in his manner, and sure enough, he lifts his hand in a very formal salute. "Mighty Galvatron." He states. "You requested to see me concerning the incident between Soundwave, and the false Optimus Prime." Galvatron doesn't stir at first, as Scorponok speaks to him. Several long moments of silence pass, then finally, Galvatron says, "Yes, yes I have, Scorponok, and I rather had the impression you were avoiding me!" He glares into the face of the Headmaster Commander. "So, I assume you're going to bore me with the usual barrage of pathetic excuses? Maybe try to place all the blame on your co-conspirators? Or maybe you'll just grovel?" He waves a hand dismissively. "Well, get on with it, then." Scorponok is silent for a moment as Galvatron speaks. His words are chosen carefully, though they do not seem to be. This is Zarak's line of work; an easy free-flow of speech. "For a short time, Lord, you are correct, I was." He immediately follows up this confession. "I realized that I had done wrong by concealing the truth from you. My reasons were for security. I thought that either Soundwave had already informed you, or that he had a reason beyond my comprehension for doing as he did. And so I played along with it." He is still standing straight up. "Lord Galvatron . . . if excuses bore you, and blame deflection will not work, and grovelling does not work either . . . perhaps there is one thing other that you have never seen before that will please you?" Galvatron's gaze becomes more intense as he considers Scorponok's words. He really was anticipating the usual grovel/blame/excuse-fest, having heard it so many times from warriors such as Starscream, who was practically an expert in the field. But Scorponok's proposal manages to catch his interest. "Hm. Something that I have not seen before? Me? I have seen into the face of a god, what else is there left to see?" Scorponok relaxes his stance, ever so slightly. "Results, Lord." He allows this to sink in for a moment. "All others beg, apologize, attempt to deflect blame. Perhaps you will find results pleasing." Another pause, and then he reaches behind him and draws forth a small object. It is encased in a diamond shaped device that generates a protective forcefield. He probably had a techie whip that one up for him. "I avoided you, Lord Galvatron, because I refuse to be one of those who comes to you empty handed, begging forgiveness, only to resume a worthless post to fail again and again. As soon as I knew of your anger, I took it on myself to do something to atone for it; to /PROVE MY WORTH/." He holds out the object. "This is the Fractal Generator." Galvatron practically leaps out of his chair once the Fractal Generator is presented to him. As it is, he's wide-eyed and on the edge of his seat. "The Fractal Generator!? You have it!? When did you get it, and how? I had sent a team of Decepticons to get it, but they never reported in to me--" He squints at the shape inside the diamond. "--I was expecting it to be larger! Is this its normal size?..." That last question had a bit of menace to it, as if Galvatron is suggesting that there had better be a good explanation for this. Scorponok paitently answers every one of Galvatron's questions. "I found the record of your original orders and went to the planet in question after assembling a small team. Of your original team, only one seeker, Vektor survives, who will be able to confirm my story. In their attempt to remove the device, they damaged the containment and fell victim to its effect. I, and my team were able to overcome this." His clawed hand holds the item out for Galvatron, still. "This is the authetntic device, Lord, I would not attempt to decieve. It is merely in an unpowered state and under containment at the moment." Galvatron peers at the device. squinting. Gingerly, he picks up the Fractal Generator, peering into it. "Yes... the shapes do seem to resemble the way it was described to me by--" He cuts himself short. "Yes, yes, this is the genuine device. So it is in a weakened state? No matter--I know of a way to increase its power MANY times over." His lip twists into an evil grin. "You have done well, Scorponok, and succeeded where less competent Decepticons failed. Therefore, I am... waiving your punishment for your treachery. In fact..." Galvatron smiles smugly. "There will come a time when you will be very glad you performed so well, Scorponok. Trust me. Hm hm hm." The tyrant holds the generator up to the light, peering into it. "There was a time, long ago, Lord Galvatron, where Cybertron itself quaked at the mention of Megatron and Scorponok. And so the universe shall soon quake at the mere thought of Galvatron and Scorponok." He steps back, and bows. "If you are finished with me, Lord, I will depart and see to repairs." Galvatron's grin somehow turns even more evil. "Hahaha, you have no idea how true your words are, Scorponok! But yes, do as you like, Scorponok! I am sure I will require a warrior of your skill once again VERY soon!" He doesn't take his optics off his prize, though. "Soon, my little friend. *Soon.*" Scorponok heard everything Galvatron said, also. Just at this point he knows better than to ask. Scorponok salutes Galvatron once more, then executes a GTFO manuver. Decepticon Message: 2/164 Posted Author Funeral for Gnaw Thu Oct 15 Galvatron ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (One of the items on the Decepticon digital bulletin board suggests that a funeral will be held for Gnaw the Sharkticon. It is not expected to be an open casket funeral, and Gnaw's remains are not expected to be recycled due to a fear of an unspecified "contamination.") Decepticon Message: 2/165 Posted Author AAR: Xx**XX*X* Thu Oct 15 Scorponok ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scorponok's robot mode face appears. "Well done today, those who were /mech/ enough to go." Message ends. Galvatron's OOC notes about this event: I originally hoped I would be able to introduce a third Decepticon gumby at some point during this scene. Unlike Vektor, this guy would be completely enamored with fractals in a manner that would have been rather unsettling. Unfortunately, as the plot moved along I ran out of time to introduce more NPC's. And anyway, I think there was more than enough nightmare fuel in here to last the MUSH for a while.' Also, if you're wondering what happened to the first seeker, the one that got covered up by a tarp, he basically transformed into a fractal while he was out of everyone's view under the tarp. When Fusillade passed overhead, his new fractal structure was too fragile to withstand the turbulence in the air, and he shattered into pieces. The point of this was to show that something bad was going on, and that it was killing people, but I didn't want to show exactly what that was just yet--not until Gnaw became contaminated, too.